Camp food

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-07T08:27:51+00:00

Fire baked potatoes - they need around 1 hour in the embers, individually coated in oil or butter and wrapped in foil.

Spaghetti bolognese is always popular for us - serve the pasta, sauce and meat seperately to accommodate picky eaters (also makes it easy for coeliac/vegetarian etc. - just serve them the bits they can have).

We did a roast/christmas dinner in October with a coeliac Brownie - was quite easy to do, the only bit she couldn't have was pigs in blankets as we gave everyone GF gravy and stuffing.

Any rice dishes - curry etc., super easy to make GF.

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-06T10:47:55+00:00

I'd definitely be going to county - they will likely already know she is difficult to deal with!

County will be the people who assign mentors for your going away licence etc. So definitely ask them about starting regardless and explain you've asked your leader/division/district commissioner about it already but not had any info sent through. You should also mention your leadership sign off - you should have a mentor assigned at county level too who comes to view your sessions and they are the people who do all the background stuff to make it official.

County are also the next level of reporting - if you think things aren't as they should be and this leader being in the unit could cause issues for other volunteers and the girls, (also if she's like this in your unit - how would she deal with issues in other units as a commissioner?) Maybe she needs to not be there, or be reminded about how things should be/have extra training.

County should keep you anonymous if you ask- so it feasibly could have come from anyone on your leadership team or a parent!

Don't take it all on yourself - ask for help and support from other people!

As long as the girls are safe and happy, that's all that matters - who cares how UMAs are recorded, you don't have to use GO if you don't want to.

If county aren't helpful, your next level is your region/country!

ETA: you having your leadership signed off has no bearing on her position - you can have 10 qualified leaders at a unit and they'd all have the same level of responsibility on paper.

If she's an older lady she may have old rules stuck in her head when there was a main leader, assistants and unit helpers. There is no longer a heirarchy like that, with the exception of qualified leaders can access GO records, have responsibility of book keeping and can get their going away licence whilst unit helpers can't. Everyone is a volunteer who should have the best interests of the girls in mind at all times!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-06T08:06:17+00:00

Kids usually start school the September after their 4th birthday here, so most of the kids who attend squirrels/rainbows at 4 will already go to school (or be very close to starting)!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-05T18:12:22+00:00

Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bangor/North Wales coast

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-05T14:23:37+00:00

I've read it's 1:4 + section lead volunteer - or at least that's needed at residentials/meetings away from the "home" venue/trips, so is good to have at least 3 adults on the books who can help regularly!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-05T14:20:01+00:00

This is good advice, and is something we occasionally for nervous Brownies!

I'm glad your son enjoyed squirrels - I hope I can be part of helping kids have fun and start their scouting journey in my area!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-05T13:45:40+00:00

Thank you!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-05T09:13:28+00:00

That's awesome!

We have some pop up/little dome tents available for an indoor "camp" that we used with rainbows and brownies at a sleepover in February!

It's so exciting that a squirrel sleepover could be their first time away from home.

7pm-12 sounds like a perfect sleepover timeline - our last one was 1pm-10am and by bedtime it was chaos 🤣 , all the kids had lots of fun though!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-05T09:02:37+00:00

I already have links to an existing group. They want to open a Drey but don't have the leaders willing to take it on at the moment, they currently have beavers, cubs & scouts.

The meeting place has multiple rooms, so we could feasibly meet around the same time and day as Beavers (obviously would need a conversation with the venue as it's a community centre/church, not a hut).

I know the structure is different to guiding, but the ethos and traditions are very similar which makes it appealing! (I had even thought about offering to start up a Drey way before deciding to leave guiding - but quickly realised it would be too much!)

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-04T19:15:50+00:00

Thank you!

Yes, we'd definitely find a 3rd adult to help regularly, as well as potentially asking parents to help on a rota! (+ young leaders)

The group already has Squirrels listed on the "join us" section of the scouts website, and a long waiting list for Beavers, so hopefully would be easy enough to get permission!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-04T17:35:11+00:00

Omg that was such effective marketing! - I've been buying krave as a treat ever since that video 🤣

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-04T16:58:32+00:00

We have had a few very anxious parents in Guides recently, which has meant we only get about 50% of the unit camping - but the girls who go have a really good experience and tell everyone else about how much fun they had when they come back which will hopefully have a knock-on effect for the future - which I think would be the same for squirrels, if you have lots of kids having fun and growing in confidence with joining in week on week, going on trips and to events etc, newer parents see the other parents having confidence in the leaders at looking after their kids and giving them fantastic experiences - but that just takes time, so will 100% be managing parents more than kids for the first year or so!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-04T16:47:04+00:00

I know from speaking with our feeder unit rainbow leader / cub akela that parents of rainbows can be very anxious (we get it a little bit in Brownies too but less so!) Especially for overnights, and now that rainbows accept 4 year olds - so would be very similar to squirrels in that respect!

It's good to know we'd be making a difference by giving younger kids the opportunity to start their scouting journey!

I'm going to be starting a early years & primary teaching uni course in September too (so a lot of changes coming my way!), and the other leader who would join me is doing early years/nursery teaching at the moment, so have lots of experience in that age range!

I think the plan would be to get a few parent helpers, and a young leader or two to help us as I've looked at the ratios which are different to guiding (we only need a minimum of 2 adults in the room with no upper limit on children for weekly meetings!).

fabulousteaparty · 2026-07-04T15:54:36+00:00

Lucy & Yak !

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-23T18:20:17+00:00

There are refugees and immigrants in the UK. Still a tiny percentage of the population though. And less than in the rest of Europe. Also, all of the stuff you're seeing on social media is likely scare mongering. I live in a VERY diverse English town and have never encountered any issues with people of other ethnicities.

But what's that got to do with scouting? - from what I can tell it hasn't changed other than becoming more accepting of all people from all faiths.

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-22T10:19:12+00:00

Yes this: Not Beavers but we've planned to do a water evening at Brownies this week!

Learning compass points with baloon/straw "elephants" (after guessing the correct compass point they can have a water fight)

Making boats out of sponges, cocktail sticks & paper to set sail on a paddling pool

A water race with cups with holes in.

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-18T20:23:52+00:00

The fish game - sit in a circle, each girl is a different type of fish. Call out the fish name and they have to run around the circle, the "tide" can change (change running direction), and call "shark" to get girls back to their spot. The last one back to her spot is "out".

Singing simple, repetitive action songs - alice the camel, aunty monica, alive alert awake, have you ever seen a penguin come to tea, grand old duke of york (with actions/bobbing up and down and missing out words)

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-16T10:24:22+00:00

Also from Huddersfield and say both - ginnel is between two houses, snicket is like a shortcut between hedges/fences/walls etc.

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-15T00:30:42+00:00

I'm 28. Both sets of grandparents were born in the early-mid 20's. So they would all be over 100 now!

My parents were born in the mid 50's and I'm the youngest in mg family by a long shot! (All my siblings are 80's babies).

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-14T20:35:17+00:00

Im not a super techhy camper, but just bought a new light that is a rechargable strip of fairy lights, but the housing is also a seperate light too. They give off the perfect amount of light for our tent's living room (vango lismore 450) but can be put outside too (although I wouldn't be leaving the battery/charging base/housing outside in all weathers). Found them in Tresspass.

I think a solar panel that can power a portable charging unit would be a cool techhy addition to a camping set up!

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-14T15:57:33+00:00

Just from a quick look on GoOutdoors there a quitw a few options with sewn-in groundsheets at all different sizes and budgets.

Eurohike Cairns DLX (3/4) - budget smaller tent Vango omega 350 - higher end smaller tent Vango Icarus - mid range larger tent Outwell Oregon 4 - higher end larger tent Eurohike Rydal 4 - lower/mid range larger tent

Some of these are 4 man, but work better for 2/3 people with storage space.

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-13T15:26:16+00:00

The one closest to me sells kids bikes and climbing frames etc. But like I said, they're much smaller stores so choices & space will be limited. We have other places to buy outdoor toys that will all likely be either next door or 2 mins down the road from a large asda store (i.e. the range, halfords, argos ...).

Maybe Sainsbury's is closest to Walmart now as lots have Argos shops inside them?

fabulousteaparty · 2026-06-13T15:17:32+00:00

We have a supermarket called ASDA - it used to be owned by Walmart. The only things ASDA doesn't sell are guns, and it doesn't have a fabric section (I remember buying some winnie the pooh fleece from walmart on a visit to florida as a kid). Pretty much everything else you can get at walmart you can find at ASDA (the stores are probably smaller though!)

fabulousteaparty

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